Illiterate women workers turn ‘mestris’

Women workers preparing land with plastic ropes for sowing of paddy near Guduru village in Krishna district. Photo: T. Appala Naidu

In Krishna district, considered the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh, illiterate women leaders of agricultural labourers, engaged in paddy operations, have made a major contribution for better yield.

The leader, known as ‘mestri’ or ‘crop manager’ among the womenfolk, attends the field with a rope in her hands. Having the sufficient number of workers, her duty involves calculation of the quantity of paddy saplings required for transplantation in the given extent of land.

“First it is my duty to confirm how many lines of space need to be left in the given piece of land before we go for transplantation of paddy. Later, the piece of land is divided into patches of paddy plants with well maintained gaps. Each gap is left without plantation,” K. Bhagya Sri, a ‘mestri’ told

The Hindu .

The ‘mestri’, accompanied by another co-worker, would measure the land with ‘plastic rope’ for maintenance of the ideal gaps.

Several gaps left between the plantation patches in the paddy field are meant to facilitate easy mobility of the farmer for crop inspection, spraying of fertilizers and so on.

The technique, completely monitored and done by two women workers of the respective group, ensures speedy crop cutting, too.

For better yield

The landowners present at the fields opined that the maintenance of space between patches of plants would help register better yield. “We see no difficulty in measurements. Our experience enables us to make perfect calculations about the space needed to be maintained during the sowing operations,” said S. Jaya Laxmi who leads a team of agriculture workers.

On the other hand, transplantation is the only stage in paddy cultivation that demands the woman worker to work for hours continuously, mostly at least 7 hours a day with a brief rest.